BERLIN (Reuters) – SAP Chief Executive Christian Klein’s fixed and variable pay jumped 67% to 9.2 million euros ($11.1 million) last year, under German disclosure rules, although he took home less after a tough year for the business software group.
The package, set out in the executive compensation section of SAP’s annual report, makes Klein one of Germany’s best-paid bosses – although he earned less than predecessor Bill McDermott.
It puts Klein, 40, more or less on a par with Joe Kaeser, the former CEO of engineering group Siemens, whose compensation declined by a third to 9.3 million euros in the fiscal year to September 2020.
Klein’s package was based on a complex set of business and financial metrics, according to the 19-page report, and contrasts with the 1% rise in operating profit eked out by SAP amid headwinds from the coronavirus pandemic.
Klein received 1.1 million euros in fixed compensation and 1.1 million euros of supplementary compensation, according to a breakdown based on the German Corporate Governance Code.
On top of that, SAP disclosed 1.9 million euros in one-year variable compensation, and a further 5.1 million euros in multi-year variable compensation under a long-term incentive plan that was awarded last year.
In reality, Klein did not receive the one-year variable bonus because SAP missed its performance targets. The award on the first year of the five-year long-term scheme was only 45%, meaning that the actual payout was lower, an SAP spokesman said.
The figures disclosed for variable compensation are notional and depend on performance but are required under the German code. At a minimum, Klein’s long-term compensation for 2020 would turn out at zero and at most would reach 14.7 million euros.
Total executive board compensation at SAP rose by 28% to 42.6 million euros last year, SAP said.($1 = 0.8313 euros)
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine. Editing by Thomas Escritt and Mark Potter)
